Mental agility was the real skill as Ibrahimovic stunned England with that fourth goal

It isn’t the kick. It’s the thought that precedes it. That is what makes Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s incredible fourth goal against England a thing of beauty.

Anyone can make the shot. Well, not anyone, obviously. There are several billion people who would end up in traction if they even thought about it too hard, but for a professional footballer, certainly one of elite standard, the most fantastically ambitious manoeuvres do occasionally come off.

Trevor Sinclair scored a goal for QPR against Barnsley in the FA Cup in 1997 that he can probably still dine out on today. Think Nayim from the halfway line. It happens.

Beauty: Zlatan Ibrahimovic scores his fourth goal against England

So a player with Ibrahimovic’s breathtaking technical range — and there is probably no better striker of a ball on the volley — can be blessed with the perfect moment in which execution, instinct, timing and a helpful pinch of luck combine to produce something quite stunning.

What sets Ibrahimovic’s goal apart, however, is the intelligence that inspires it. His athleticism, his balance, his control, his skill, all would be meaningless if he had not worked out that England goalkeeper Joe Hart was about to make a big mistake. The assist is in Ibrahimovic’s mind.

By checking his run, by backing off to meet the poorly executed headed clearance, Ibrahimovic gives himself a chance — only a slim chance, admittedly — of getting a shot at goal. What he cannot anticipate is that he will have to perform the equivalent of a parallel bar dismount to make it work for him.

From there, it is an unforgettable collision of imagination, over-confidence, providence and sublime individual expression that conjures one of the goals of this — or any — season.

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Slowed down, the shot looks more precise than it could have been. We have seen similar attempts before. It could have gone in, it could have missed by inches, it could have come to rest on the roof, Ibrahimovic no more knew the outcome in that split second than you or I.

He waits until the ball is in the net before he starts celebrating because he has no clue where it will land when it leaves his foot (although his outstanding technique gives him a superior chance of pulling it off).

Good fortune plays no part in the build-up, however. That is about one man, in a split second, assessing a situation quicker than any player around him. It is, for that reason and quite a few more, a simply brilliant goal: spectacular in thought as much as in action.